wave to earth Sells Out the Greek Theatre on One of LA's Hottest Nights of the Year

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Despite being one of the hottest days of the year, that didn’t stop anyone. Hundreds of fans lined up in front of the iconic Greek Theatre on Wednesday evening for wave to earth’s sold out LA show for their the pieces tour.

Photo Cr.: Glenalyn Ann

wave to earth is a South Korean indie rock trio made up of Daniel Kim on vocals and guitar, John Cha on bass, and Dong Q on drums. The band formed in Seoul when Daniel and Dong Q were still in middle school, united by a shared ambition to make music that creates a new wave. They debuted in 2019 with their single "wave" and steadily built a global following through streaming platforms and a relentless touring schedule. Their song "seasons" has surpassed 500 million streams on Spotify, and their single "bad" hit number one on Spotify's Global Viral 50. Their 2023 debut album 0.1 flaws and all. launched them into sold-out tours across North America, Europe, and Asia. And now, fresh off the August 7 release of their sophomore album bad pieces, the band arrived at the Greek Theatre with something new to show and a crowd more than ready to hear it.

The set opened with "talking 'bout u" and immediately set the tone for everything that followed. The whole show had a house-like warmth to it, intimate and enveloping, despite the size of the venue. The entire band was visibly thrilled to be there. You could feel the excitement coming off the stage in every chord and every look exchanged between members. They moved through "everything comes and goes" and "sing it all again" with the kind of precision and feeling that reminded you why this band has earned every seat in that amphitheater. The live vocals throughout the entire night were stunning. Daniel's voice carried with an effortlessness that had people around the venue visibly moved, some even in tears.

The set built momentum with "skylark" and "courage," the latter one being one of the two title tracks from bad pieces, before the band launched into "cherry flavoured love inside your heart" and then "hyang," the album's other title track, sung entirely in Korean. Guitar solos gave way to saxophone solos as the band stretched out and breathed, with each member getting their moment to shine. The crowd absorbed it all, singing along to every word they knew and swaying through the instrumental passages with their eyes closed.

"seasons" landed like the crowd had been waiting for it all night. From the opening notes, the roar that erupted made clear just how deep this song lives in people. Then came "you," "bad," and "sunny days," filling the Greek Theatre with wall-to-wall voices. The emotional connection between the band and their fans was impossible to miss. Tears streamed down faces in every section of the venue, not out of sadness, but out of something harder to name. The feeling you get when music reaches somewhere nothing else can. The band blew kisses into the crowd between songs, and the crowd gave it right back. At one point the bassist, John Cha, taught the crowd to say "yaho," telling everyone it was Korean but proceeded to say its origin was from japan which had not only the crowd but the band laughing, yet the whole amphitheater played along. Then, as if to top even that, they threw paper airplanes out into the audience, sending the crowd into a collective joy that rippled through the entire venue.

The set continued to climb through "annie.," "calla," and "heaven and hell," each song building on the last. By the time they reached "closing." to bring the main set to an end, the crowd was emotionally wrung out in the best possible way. But nobody was ready to let go.

The encore sent the Greek Theatre over the edge. When "daisy." opened things back up, the crowd cheered hard. But when the opening notes of "homesick" rang out next, it was a different kind of reaction entirely. Pure, unfiltered eruption. People screamed, people cried, people grabbed whoever was next to them. It was the fan favorite everyone had quietly been hoping for and the fact that it arrived in the encore made it hit even harder. wave to earth closed the night with "love.," a final exhale for a crowd that had given everything they had. One of the hottest nights of the year became also one of the most unforgettable.